Low Intensity Weight Loss for Young Adults

Summary

This is a 3-arm randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of three novel motivational approaches to weight loss with 18-25 year olds. Participants will be 18-25 year olds with a BMI of 25-45 kg/m2, randomized to: 1) Behavioral Weight Loss (BWL), 2) BWL + Autonomous Motivation (BWL+Aut) or 3) BWL + Extrinsic Motivation (BWL+Ext). All arms will receive a 6-month behavioral weight loss intervention, followed by a 6-month no-treatment follow up period.

Conditions

• Obesity

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Behavioral Weight Loss (BWL)

The intervention represents an adapted version of gold-standard evidence based adult behavioral weight loss that has been tailored specifically to meet the needs of 18-25 year olds. The program includes personalized dietary and physical activity prescriptions, training in behavioral strategies, weekly lesson content, and reporting of key behaviors and personalized feedback and coaching.

BEHAVIORAL

BWL + Autonomous Motivation

The intervention represents an adapted version of gold-standard evidence based adult behavioral weight loss that has been tailored specifically to meet the needs of 18-25 year olds. The program includes personalized dietary and physical activity prescriptions, training in behavioral strategies, weekly lesson content, and reporting of key behaviors and personalized feedback and coaching. Participants in this arm will receive coaching that places an increased emphasis on their values and personal choices, and also have the option to attend several experiential group sessions that will help those interested to apply the material and skills they are being taught (e.g., cooking demonstration, circuit training class).

BEHAVIORAL

BWL + Extrinsic Motivation

The intervention represents an adapted version of gold-standard evidence based adult behavioral weight loss that has been tailored specifically to meet the needs of 18-25 year olds. The program includes personalized dietary and physical activity prescriptions, training in behavioral strategies, weekly lesson content, and reporting of key behaviors and personalized feedback and coaching. Participants in this arm will have the opportunity to receive small monetary incentives in weeks 2-24 for tracking weight and calorie intake, and will be eligible for a raffle based on weight loss.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

  collaborator NIH

• Virginia Commonwealth University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Jessica G LaRose, PhD · Virginia Commonwealth University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

25 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-01-31

Primary Completion

2019-08-27

Completion

2020-02-08

Countries

• United States

Study Locations